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British Journal of Pharmacology logoLink to British Journal of Pharmacology
. 1998 Nov;125(5):969–978. doi: 10.1038/sj.bjp.0702129

Effects of propafenone and 5-hydroxy-propafenone on hKv1.5 channels

Laura Franqueza 1,*, Carmen Valenzuela 1, Eva Delpón 1, Mónica Longobardo 1, Ricardo Caballero 1, Juan Tamargo 1
PMCID: PMC1565661  PMID: 9846634

Abstract

  1. The goal of this study was to analyse the effects of propafenone and its major metabolite, 5-hydroxy-propafenone, on a human cardiac K+ channel (hKv1.5) stably expressed in Ltk cells and using the whole-cell configuration of the patch-clamp technique.

  2. Propafenone and 5-hydroxy-propafenone inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner the hKv1.5 current with KD values of 4.4±0.3 μM and 9.2±1.6 μM, respectively.

  3. Block induced by both drugs was voltage-dependent consistent with a value of electrical distance (referenced to the cytoplasmic side) of 0.17±0.55 (n=10) and 0.16±0.81 (n=16).

  4. The apparent association (k) and dissociation (l) rate constants for propafenone were (8.9±0.9)×106M−1 s−1 and 39.5±4.2 s−1, respectively. For 5-hydroxy-propafenone these values averaged (2.3±0.3)×106M−1 s−1 and 21.4±3.1 s−1, respectively.

  5. Both drugs reduced the tail current amplitude recorded at −40 mV after 250 ms depolarizing pulses to +60 mV, and slowed the deactivation time course resulting in a `crossover' phenomenon when the tail currents recorded under control conditions and in the presence of each drug were superimposed.

  6. Both compounds induced a small but statistically significant use-dependent block when trains of depolarizations at frequencies between 0.5 and 3 Hz were applied.

  7. These results indicate that propafenone and its metabolite block hKv1.5 channels in a concentration-, voltage-, time- and use-dependent manner and the concentrations needed to observe these effects are in the therapeutical range.

Keywords: K+ channels, propafenone, 5-hydroxy-propafenone

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